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In his painting Descent from the Cross (c. 1435), now in the Prado, Madrid, Rogier van der Weyden uses a rhetoric of dress to investigate and popularize a new visual type hitherto unrecognized by art historians: the metaphorically pregnant Mary Magdalene. This symbolic pregnancy serves as an analog for the Magdalene's conversion from wanton prostitute to Bride of Christ. Laboring beneath the cross, she represents the ideal archetype for repentant sinners, offering everyone hope of redemption. The visual clues that would have reassured the original viewers of the Magdalene's efficacy as both model and intercessory advocate are her loosened laces and her narrow, low-riding belt. The writer traces the development of these elements of costume as indicators of pregnancy in 15th-century northern European art, and goes on to discuss the significance of the Magdalene's metaphorical pregnancy and labor.
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